LIPID MAPS® Structure Database (LMSD)
The LIPID MAPS® Structure Database (LMSD) is a relational database encompassing structures and annotations of biologically relevant lipids. As of today, LMSD contains 50253 unique lipid structures, making it the largest public lipid-only database in the world.
Structures of lipids in the database come from several sources: (i) LIPID MAPS® Consortium's core laboratories and partners; (ii) lipids identified by LIPID MAPS® experiments; (iii) biologically relevant lipids manually curated from LIPID BANK, LIPIDAT, Lipid Library, Cyberlipids, ChEBI and other public sources; (iv) novel lipids submitted to peer-reviewed journals; (v) computationally generated structures for appropriate classes.
All the lipid structures in LMSD adhere to the structure drawing rules proposed by the LIPID MAPS® consortium and are curated according to our protocols. All lipids in the LMSD have been classified using the LIPID MAPS® Lipid Classification System. Each lipid structure has been assigned a LIPID MAPS® ID (LM_ID). In addition to a classification-based retrieval of lipids, users can search LMSD using either text-based or structure-based search options.
Questions regarding the submission of structures should be submitted via our Contact page.
| Lipid Category | Curated | Computationally-generated | All |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fatty Acyls [FA] | 9729 | 1897 | 11626 |
| Glycerolipids [GL] | 411 | 7378 | 7789 |
| Glycerophospholipids [GP] | 2301 | 8297 | 10598 |
| Sphingolipids [SP] | 1844 | 3168 | 5012 |
| Sterol Lipids [ST] | 4055 | 0 | 4055 |
| Prenol Lipids [PR] | 2617 | 0 | 2617 |
| Saccharolipids [SL] | 57 | 1294 | 1351 |
| Polyketides [PK] | 7205 | 0 | 7205 |
| TOTAL | 28219 | 22034 | 50253 |
Change log
At the point of curation, a new structure and associated metadata will receive a time/date stamp held in the database. This is displayed on the webpage as “created at”, though only date is displayed. The curation interface enables changes to metadata and/or structure and these are time/date stamped and displayed on the webpage as “updated at”. Changes to lipid structures are rare (~1%) resulting from errors or adding chirality to an existing structure where new evidence is found.